Monday, November 17, 2008

Hope you caught HBO's new Ricky Gervais special on Saturday night, and of course it's repeating many times coming up. There's something so amazing about Gervais, and most of all that he's an incredible actor, in addition to having a gifted comic mind. He has a vulnerable quality -- very much on display in The Office and on Extras -- that's irresistible, along with the perfect absurdist bent that colors his take on the world.

In his special, Gervais displays his fascinating mixture of endearing arrogance, savage empathy, prodigious brainpower and undeniable humanity as he offers up a consistently amusing show. There's something brave and yet gentle about Gervais' stance with an audience; he doesn't command their attention but rather beckons them along. You're not always sure that his bits are going to go over, either, at least I wasn't. He was in front of a NYC audience, and his material is often quite British. I wonder if most Americans know that the word "podge" is an English slang for fat; one of his jokes relies on that. Maybe they do.

Here's a short clip from the special, which we offer with a warning that there's explicit language and all that other good stuff:

All we can say is watch the special. Ricky Gervais is something, all right. Sigh....

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